LeBron's big third quarter lifts Heat over Pelicans 107-88

MIAMI — The New Orleans Pelicans were the ones stuck in the Indianapolis deep freeze for three days, including nine hours in the airport on Monday.

But it was the Miami Heat who seemingly needed time to thaw out Tuesday at AmericanAirlines.

Then LeBron James began to sizzle in the third quarter, and, well, that was that, on the way to a 107-88 victory to precede a two-week trip as the Heat make South Florida room for the circus.

"He felt it," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He knows how to read a game as well as anyone I've been around."

Early on, it was all Anthony Davis, the Pelicans forward closing the first half with a double-double and New Orleans eventually pushing its lead to 11 in the third quarter.

And then James said enough was enough, scoring 16 of his 32 points in the third quarter, shooting 6 of 8 from the field and 2 of 3 on 3-pointers in playing all 12 minutes of the period.

"We were struggling possession by possession," James said of reaching his breaking point. "I just wanted to be aggressive and see if we could go for it."

So he did and the Heat did and the fourth quarter largely was a formality.

The Heat went into the fourth quarter up 75-70, and that basically was that, even with Davis, James' former Olympics teammate, closing with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

"The first half, we couldn't quite figure it out defensively," Spoelstra said. "I was encouraged by the second half."

For the Heat, it again seemingly was a case of taking a measure of an opponent in the first half and then coming up with the answers in the second.

"We're an old team," guard Dwyane Wade quipped, "and it takes a while to get the juices flowing."

As bad as the Heat were in being outscored 25-18 in the second period, they were just as dynamic in outscoring New Orleans 32-21 in the third.

"We just kind of learn what the opposition is doing," James said, "and then I understand what we can do."

Wade, again shrugging off the possibility of a night off to rest his knees, filled out the box score with 22 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, playing more as playmaker with starting point guard Mario Chalmers out. It was a particularly impressive effort considering it was Wade's third game in four nights.

"I wanted to test it, really in my mind, to see how it goes," Wade said. "It's all positive."

Wade said he plans to play in Thursday's game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and then will decide whether he will also play in Friday's road game against the Brooklyn Nets.

Center Chris Bosh added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Heat, praised by Spoelstra for helping to eventually shut down Davis.

"C.B. is an elite, elite defender in this league," Spoelstra said. "He's having as good a defensive year as a big has had recently."

The Heat also got solid efforts off the bench from guard Ray Allen and center Chris Andersen, who shot 7 of 7 and closed with 15 points and seven rebounds in his 23 minutes. It matched the most prolific night of Andersen's career without a miss.

Andersen said afterword he was feeling ill and declined comment, but Spoelstra raved about the chemistry Andersen and Bosh had while playing together.

"We rebounded better when he and Chris were in there together," Spoelstra said.

Spoelstra again had to adjust due to injury, with Norris Cole starting at point guard in place of Chalmers, who was sidelined with the Achilles tendinitis that kept him out of the second half of Sunday's victory over the Toronto Raptors, and with Rashard Lewis again starting in place of Shane Battier, who continues to deal with a quad issue.

That had Spoelstra going to guard Roger Mason Jr. in the first quarter, mere hours after Mason learned his contract had been picked up for the balance of the season. Spoelstra in the second quarter went to the end of the bench to Udonis Haslem in search of a defensive answer against Davis.

This was the first game of the two-game home-and-home season series. The Heat swept the two-game series last season and now have won five in a row from New Orleans.

The Pelicans have lost eight of their last 12.

New Orleans was without forward Ryan Andersen due to a herniated disk that has him out indefinitely.

With Davis closing the first half with 16 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots, the Pelicans took a 49-43 lead into the intermission, the Heat able to close within six when Bosh was fouled on a 3-point attempt with two-tenths of a second left in the second period, making all three free throws.

The Pelicans outrebounded the Heat 27-18 in the first half, which gave them a 15-5 edge on second-chance points over the first 24 minutes.

James led the Heat with 13 first-half points, with Wade adding 10 over the opening two periods.

The Heat again had a somewhat uneven defensive start, with the Pelicans within 25-24 at the end of the first period, after shooting .522 in the opening period. Davis led New Orleans with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first quarter, with James leading the Heat with nine points in the first.